The Victorian public was not told a mutant strain of coronavirus emerged in the community during the second wave because the authorities did not want to spook people.

Testing of samples, taken from Victoria’s deadly second wave of COVID-19, reportedly showed at least 37 people had a precursor version of the highly contagious strain of the virus currently sweeping the United Kingdom.

The information was not made public at the time.

Professor Damian Purcell from the Doherty Institute told The Age they expected to see the variant at some point and warned the state would continue to do so.